Managing the government as it enters election

Oddly enough, Pat Leahy had a good point in an Irish Times Politics podcast recently when he suggested that this government did not appear to have a clear process for ending its term in office.

Leahy noted that partners in government would be competing electorally – Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil in particular, fishing in the same pool, but the Green Party too. And the management of this process where they are all saying they’ve participated in what they will present as a successful government while simultaneously in competition is going to be difficult. This will be markedly so if the last year of the government sees them in sharp disagreement.

The closest parallel would surely be 1997 with the ‘Rainbow’ government, essentially fighting on the same platform, though it didn’t work very well.

Granted, Leahy puts a certain spin on this.Apparently, the Green Party is throwing shapes, no doubt to the horror of the newly-minted ‘centrists’ of the right of centre. Whether it is or not (and some might be unpersuaded that that is anywhere near accurate) needless to say, the message is stability, near enough at all costs. But, again, is there a political dividend in that?